Victoria.

If there is a problem with Sebastian Schipper fourth feature film its the movies plausibility, if you can ignore its rather incredible plot then I’m sure you will enjoy the movie. Victoria (2015) is really the story of how a wee Spanish girl, Victoria of the title, who loses her innocence over a 24 hour period. She has recently moved to Berlin and has got a job doing the early shift at a coffee shop in Mitte area of the German capital. When this rather lonely young woman leaves a nightclub in the early hours of the morning she meets up with four young lads who are out on the razzle and offer to show her the 'real Berlin' One of which Sonne (Frederick Lau who you may of seen in Die Welle 2008 or 2012's Oh Boy) takes an immediate liking to her. The five of them steal alcohol from an all night shop in which the owner has dropped off to sleep and then go on a tour of the late night city streets and visit their rooftop hideaway to smoke some dope. The movie now develops a change of pace when one of the four lads, Boxer (Franz Rogowski) an ex-con has to repay a debt to a gangster who protected him while he was inside. They are tasked with an armed bank heist in which Victoria (played by the wonderful Spanish actress Laia Costa) is persuaded to drive the getaway vehicle.  When the robbery inevitably goes wrong we witness how this shy lonely young girl take's command of the situation during a bloody shootout with the German police.

 

Victoria and Sonne.

Other than being an enjoyable cinematic experience, well acted by a great young cast where most of the dialogue is improvised, winning lots of awards in a country that makes great movies, it's main claim to fame is the fact that it was shot at night in one long continuous take by Sturla Brandth Grovlen, certainly a difficult task for a film that has a running time of 138 minutes but it work’s and draws you into the story and does not let you go until the credits appear. But as the director has said his movie was intended as a film not a stunt and in my humble opinion he has succeeded.